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And those were exactly the kind of thoughts that had gotten him into trouble with Sara Holyfield yesterday. Mike reined himself in sharply—he was here for business, strictly business. Find out exactly how much Sara knew about John Patrick and then get the hell out of this voodoo joint.
Mike took a step closer to the counter and cleared his throat.
“Yes? May I help you?” Sara asked, looking reluctantly up from her book with a bright smile. Her gaze collided with his and she froze. Her lovely smile faded and Mike was sorry to see it go. But he supposed he could hardly have expected any different.
“Mr. Parker,” she said after a painful pause. “What—what a surprise.”
Mike summoned up his most charming smile. “Yeah, I guess it is. I just happened to be passing through Aurora Falls and I noticed the shop and thought what the heck? I might as well look you up.”
“Really?” she asked politely, but doubt shadowed her porcelain-fine features. The woman was too nice to come right out and call him a liar, but Mike almost wished she would glare at him, shout, order him out of her store. Anything but barrage him with this sad and watchful silence.
After another of those awkward hesitations, she removed her glasses as though she liked him better out of focus. “After yesterday, I never expected to see you again.”
“Well,” Mike started to drawl, then stopped. No, breezy and casual clearly wasn’t going to work here. Time to revert to an enchantingly frank and sincere apology.
“Actually,” he said, straightening a little. “The truth is I wasn’t just passing by. I came here on purpose to find you. Ever since you left my office, I kept thinking that I’d been a little abrupt with you.”
“A little?” Sara’s lashes drifted down as she toyed with the binding of her book. “You accused me of being a charlatan and a lunatic. You slammed your office door in my face.”
Her words were very matter of fact, but beneath the calm, he caught the barest threading of hurt. He’d far rather she be ready to smash her crystal ball over his head.
She sat there with that quietly wistful expression, that sad, sad look in her eyes, until Mike squirmed, feeling like the kind of creep that goes around kicking helpless kittens and telling kids there isn’t a Santa Claus.
Dropping all pretense and slick moves, Mike stepped straight up to the counter and heaved a gusty sigh. “Look, Sara, I—I’m really sorry. I know I behaved like a total jerk. I guess I was—um—having a bad aura day. But give me another chance, okay?”
He bent down to peer coaxingly into her face. “My aura’s much better today. Wanna feel?”
“No, thank you,” she said. Her lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile, although she whipped her hands off the counter and safely out of his reach.
She risked a look up at him and he saw that the light was back in her eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment, and to Mike it seemed as though the air in the shop suddenly changed, becoming closer, warmer, heavier with the weight of something. Auras, incense. Hell, he didn’t know what it was. He just found himself leaning closer, pulled in by the tug of her big blue eyes, overcome by the urge to kiss Sara full on the mouth.
Their lips were little more than a whisper apart when Sara blinked and took flight, scrambling off her stool like a startled butterfly. Taking a wary step back, she folded her hands, saying, “Well, it—it was very nice of you stop by.”
Mike jerked upright, wondering once again what the hell had come over him. Sara’s tone sounded nervous, but dismissive. He’d better get his act together and remember what he’d come here for. Time to lay all his cards on the table.
“Actually,” he confessed, “I didn’t come all the way to Aurora Falls just to apologize.”
“Oh? Then why are you here, Mr. Parker?”
“Not Mr. Parker,” he said with a trace of irritation. “I asked you to use my first name, remember?”
“Alright...Michael.”
Michael? Alarm bells should have been going off in his head. But somehow he liked the way she said it, as light and silvery as the little chimes that tinkled over her doorway. Then, too, he was distracted as she came out from behind the counter.
Flowed out would have been a more accurate description. She had to be one of the most graceful women he’d ever known, and he considered himself an expert on the wiggle and jiggle of the feminine form. His ex, Darcy, had moved with a blatantly sultry sway, very earthy, but Sara seemed to float on a cloud, enticing a man with thoughts of more heavenly pleasures.
A sundress of shimmering blue swirled to midcalf about her shapely legs, the silky pattern bespangled with little stars and half-moons as though Sara had draped her willowy form in a bit of heaven. The bodice was modest and sweet rather than plunging, but the effect was somehow even more tantalizing, thin spaghetti straps keeping the fabric tugged well up and over the gentle swell of her breasts.
Was she wearing a bra today? Mike caught himself wishing for a blaze of sunlight when the sound of Sara’s voice called his wayward male mind back to order.
“Michael?” she said in a tone that suggested she’d been forced to repeat herself. “Just why are you here, then?”
Why was he here? Mike wrenched his eyes from the curve of Sara’s breast. Why was he here? Oh, yeah.
He paced off a few steps, jingling the change in his pockets if for no other reason than to make sure he kept his hands to himself. “It just so happens,” he said, “that I unexpectedly cleared up some of the things I’d been working on, so now I have a little time available. I’ve reconsidered the case you brought me and decided I can take it after all.”
“Oh,” Sara said softly.
Oh? That was it. Just oh? Mike felt unreasonably piqued. He hadn’t expected her to fling herself at him in a fit of gratitude, but it wouldn’t have hurt her to show some enthusiasm. Maybe she hadn’t understood him, so he added, “What I mean is that I can help you find your missing dude. John Patrick, wasn’t it?”
Sara nodded, showing she understood quite clearly. Then she floored him by demanding, “Why?”
“Why? Why. what?”
“Why did you change your mind so suddenly?”
Mike stifled a grimace. He should have guessed she might ask that, but he was not prepared to tell her that he was out to nail Xavier Storm. That he thought John Patrick might be the key. Somehow Mike couldn’t picture his angel going in for revenge as a good motive, so he hedged, saying, “I told you, I’ve got some time to kill and your case sounded...um, interesting. And I can use the extra work. That’s all there is to it.”
“Is it?” She gave him one of those looks he didn’t like, soft and clear and searching. He didn’t know if there was really anything to this psychic business, but he did his best to block his thoughts until Sara averted her gaze.
“Yes, those are my reasons,” he insisted. “Now if you’ve got the time to fill me in on some stuff, I’d like to get started today.”
Sara didn’t reply immediately. A tiny furrow marred her brow and then she said, “I’m very sorry, Michael. But I’m afraid you’ve driven a long way for nothing. I don’t need your services any longer.”
“Why? Have you already hired another detective?” Mike was surprised to feel a stab of jealousy tear through him.
But to his relief, Sara shook her head. “No, I’ve simply decided that I can handle finding John Patrick on my own. I checked this book out of our local library yesterday evening.”
“Book? What kind of book?”
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